The Wall of Stone
This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
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Chapter 12 Cleaning up GraveyardThe sun rising woke Harry Potter and Dobby the next morning in the graveyard. Once they determined they were alone and relatively unharmed, the pair searched through the debris that survived the fire. The young wizard was tired, sore, and hungry but he was determined to present the evidence as he wanted it.
The only wands they found that morning were the ones that belonged to Lucius Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew. The wands of Dark Lord Rat, Snape and MacNair burned up with their bodies. So, Harry used Pettigrew's wand to banish Lucius Malfoy's body, the rags that had clothed the wizard, the remnants of the snake, and the ashes where Dark Lord Rat, Severus Snape, and Walden MacNair had burned away. Then using Malfoy's wand, Harry attempted to banish MacNair's giant axe, but the formidable weapon resisted banishment. After two failures, Harry used Pettigrew's wand to transfigure the axe into a giant pincushion. Then he used Malfoy's wand to banish the pincushion.
Harry broke Malfoy's wand and used Pettigrew's wand to banish the pieces separately. When he completed banishing evidence, Harry used Pettigrew's to miscast incendio spells, stirring and cooling charms, and weak shields to hide the earlier spells. Dobby placed Pettigrew's wand in the dead wizard's hand.
The wizard and elf left the giant cauldron, Triwizard Tournament trophy, and Peter Pettigrew's body in the graveyard. Then they walked for a kilometre along the roadway in the town before calling the Knight Bus to carry them to Hogwarts.
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First Morning After Third TaskJust as breakfast began the morning following the third task, one side of the double door opened enough to allow Harry Potter to slip through. The boy wore the same robes from the night before and they were very dirty, but he looked well. Potter's cadre of friends from Gryffindor rose to hug him or shake his hand and guide him to their regular spot at the table. There were many students at the other tables who stood up to catch a glance of the Boy-Who-Lived who returned from Merlin knows what kind of adventure.
The magic in the Goblet of Fire watched carefully as the shanghaied champion – the only surviving champion and winner of the tournament – sat down and plated up a large breakfast. The sentience inside the goblet reviewed the boy's memories and smiled, 'We knew the wall smacked some more soul bits around last night. Looks like We got them all. Now, let's see if they remember to give him the thousand galleons and a trophy?'
Rumours from the third task spread through the student body included Potter throwing Boggarts at the judges, setting fire to the maze himself, and running away in fear. Professor Pomona Sprout sent Madam Pomphrey to check Mr Potter but otherwise she ignored the return of the champion of the Triwizard Tournament. The coven of thirteen Aurors stationed at Hogwarts to maintain order made certain the matron reported the boy was healthy before one of their number spoke to the boy about an interview.
Harry didn't ignore Auror Dawlish but paid more attention to the plate of food in front of him. Rather than have Dobby bring him some food last night or earlier this morning, Harry had intentionally waited until now to eat so that others (students, professors and Aurors) would understand that the Boy-Who-Lived had a rough night. His friends waited until Harry had eaten and finished his large cup of tea before Neville motioned Auror Dawlish to step closer and ask his questions.
"Tell me where you were last night, Potter," Dawlish ordered.
Nodding, the young wizard answered with the full itinerary but left out many details. "I went through the maze at the Quidditch pitch here at Hogwarts to complete the third task of the blasted Triwizard Tournament. When I picked up the trophy, I expected it to take me to the platform where the judges sat. But it just kept spinning me around and around for a long time."
"Where did you land?" asked the confused Auror.
Shaking his head, Harry said, "I don't know the muggle name of the town, but I landed in a graveyard somewhere in Britain."
"What happened then?"
"There was a fourth task! A fourth task that no one warned me to expect," Harry growled while glaring at the head table. Then he continued, "Not one of those sorry idiots who acted as judges warned me, they had added another task. I had to duel with some idiot wizard who was brewing a giant potion but then the potion exploded."
"How did you not get hurt?"
Harry looked closely at the Auror and slowly explained, "There's some special magic around me that my mother put around me when she sacrificed her life to save my life in 1981."
Dawlish started not understanding, so Harry added, "That magic protects me. And beginning the moment I got shanghaied into the Triwizard Tournament, the magic manifests as a wall of stone anytime someone casts spells at me…or even threatens me."
Suddenly nervous, Auror Dawlish took a step backwards as students at all four tables chuckled. Angrily, the wizard reached for his wand while the students behind the man scrambled to move as far away as possible. Fortunately, the noise distracted Dawlish long enough for another Auror to grab the man's arm and pushed down the hand holding the wand. That Auror hissed, "Don't be an idiot."
Auror Dawlish continued to frown but motioned for Potter to continue. Harry did just that, "Last night, my magic was exhausted after dealing with the creatures in the maze, fighting that wizard in the graveyard and summoning the wall of stone to save me from the cauldron explosion."
"I fell asleep there…in the graveyard," he grimaced. "I slept all night and when I woke up this morning, I didn't know where I was – and no one had come looking for me."
"After looking around a bit, I walked to the nearest roadway and summoned the Knight's Bus. Stan Pikeman delivered me to Hogsmeade, and I had to walk up to the castle. There was a nice Auror was at the gate, and she let me in, so I hurried here to eat breakfast. It's been a long time since supper, and I am starved."
Auror Dawlish made some statement about not leaving Britain without notifying the DMLE and then stepped away.
In the next minute, the postal owls arrived with the Daily Prophet. The front page was dominated by a photo of Harry's Patronus rising from the shrubbery to skewer a Dementor that rising to flee. Other photos included the Boggarts that Potter had thrown out of the hedges. And the newspaper included preliminary numbers of the dead and injured.
Reading about the number of injured and dead among the judges and spectators, Harry and the other students asked, "What happened? How did this happen?"
The sensible Auror explained that once Mr Potter was pulled away from the maze by the trophy and its portkey, the maze had fallen and released all the creatures.
"There was one Cerberus, lots of giant spiders, a hungry sphinx, and some strange monsters who shot fire out of their backsides. They set everything and everyone on fire."
"What happened to Hagrid?" asked Harry. Other students asked, "Where are Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape?"
The Auror declared that Professor Snape, Professor Moody, and Professor McGonagall were all missing. Professor Dumbledore had been poisoned by one of the Acromantulas but was in Saint Mungo's for treatment. The man paused before he continued, "The gamekeeper died trying to get the creatures to not fight. The Cerberus and those fire things battled, and Hagrid got in the middle of the fight. He died quickly."
At the staff table, Professor Flitwick filled in many of the details about the Boggarts, Blast Ended Skrewts, Sphinx, and Acromantulas fighting in the maze, stands and flames. He admitted he had no news concerning the fate of McGonagall, Moody, or Snape.
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That afternoon, Harry sat and mourned the loss his friend Rubeus Hagrid. The half-giant had been a menace with his dangerous creatures, but his heart had been in the right place. The young wizard chose to remember the kind wizard who'd introduced him to Diagon Alley and gifted him with Hedwig, the first gift he'd ever received. He insisted on going to the Quidditch pitch where the bodies of the dead were arranged in neat rows underneath large, weatherproof sheets of canvas. Hagrid's was the largest by far and the Auror on duty stated that a funeral service for the half-giant would include a pyre down by his cabin the night before the train left for London.
To ease some of his grief and stress, Harry worked with the locals from Hogsmeade to release the wild animals in Hagrid's cabin into the forest, and helped the witch who wanted to adopt Fang, Hagrid's dog, locate the canine's food and water dishes.
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After supper that night, Harry walked around the castle and in a deserted classroom with ample privacy spells in place, he talked with Dobby. The house elf had recovered from the experiences of the night before and expected to be healed of any concussion problems before the Hogwarts Express left for London.
In a surprise for the elf, Harry asked, "Will you come with me this summer Dobby? Be my elf this summer?"
When the joyous elf calmed enough to affirm his intention to follow his Mr Harry James Potter when he 'blew this joint,' Harry thanked Dobby and then sat and planned his summer. Determined to protect his status as an emancipated minor and have a decent summer, the wizard intended to spend the summer at his family manor hidden behind powerful wards somewhere in Britain. (Harry thought the house was in Wales but he'd wait until he was safe in the house before confirming that.)
He intended to tell no one his plans (not even Dobby would know the plans), but he would leave Kings Cross Station with his relatives and return to No.4 Privet Drive. Five minutes after he walked through the door, he would depart with Dobby and never set foot in the house again.
Even Sirius Black wouldn't know Harry's plans – everyone would believe that Harry was locked up in Surrey, while Sirius would remain hidden away at No.12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry hoped to begin secure correspondence with Sirius as soon as he was safe behind the wards of the manor. The house had multiple wards in place, and they were fully powered to destroy all tracking spells, portkeys, and jinxes in letters or attached to postal owls. And Harry had taken the addition step to contract Gringotts to receive all his personal and professional correspondence. Harry would send an elf each day to retrieve his mail after it had been dispelled, examined, and reviewed by goblin magic users.
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Second Morning After Third TaskThe second morning after the Third Task, the Daily Prophet carried more photos of the fighting with the creatures, a comprehensive list of dead and injured witches and wizards, and updates on the medical condition of Minister Fudge, and Headmaster Dumbledore. The favourite photo in the newspaper that morning turned out to be the one of Fudge throwing Umbridge around the platform for judges.
At lunch, Draco Malfoy received a Gringotts owl bearing a black letter. His mother collected him that afternoon as he returned home early to deal with the official death of his father.
Harry wondered, 'How does Gringotts determine that a wizard is dead?'
Then he thought through all the details of the clean-up he and Dobby gave the graveyard. The Boy-Who-Lived kept control of his expression when he questioned the efficiency of the DMLE if it took the Aurors two days to find the sight of the engagement. He hadn't offered up a memory of the night, but Stan Turnpike certainly would have remembered when and where Harry climbed into the bus. The boy considered, 'Or maybe not. Stan's alright but he's gotta keep his eye on the road and probably doesn't remember everywhere he's been.'
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Third Morning After Third TaskTrouble began for Harry on the third morning after the task. This was the last full day at Hogwarts and the Hogwarts Express would leave for London after breakfast tomorrow. The service for Hagrid was planned for the early evening – the elves built a funeral pyre of wood from the Forbidden Forest and prepared the body with oils and wrappings that burn hot and fast. Potter intended to attend and would watch over the fire until the following morning if necessary.
But on this morning, the postal owls brought the Daily Prophet, and the latest edition generated many heated conversations among the students and the few members of the staff who remained at the school.
The headlines declared; Dumbledore says Potter used to Restore Dark Lord! Potter says He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Returns!
Harry stared and realized his mouth was open. He looked around at the Gryffindor table, saw confusion and questions on the faces of his friends, and beyond them were faces of fear and anger. The children of known and suspected Death Eaters had left the school the day before after they received the black letters from Gringotts but none of the neutral or light oriented families welcomed this news.
At the Gryffindor table, Harry argued with Ron Weasley when the ginger headed teen declared Harry was at fault. Harry was angry when he asked, "When did I talk with Dumbledore or the reporters from the Daily Prophet?"
"After you left the Quidditch pitch – you didn't come back until the next morning so there was plenty of time to go to London and sell your story," Ron answered. "How much gold did you get for telling your adventure to the Daily Prophet? Say, did the Dark Lord pay you to help bring him back?"
Harry scowled and Ron stepped back, fearful of the wall of stone knocking him about but when it didn't appear, Weasley continued, "Besides, if Dumbledore says the Dark Lord is back, that's the truth!"
Professor Sprout was forced to intervene and threatened both boys with detention if they continued the argument.
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Harry didn't leave the Great Hall but borrowed parchment, writing instruments and ink from Hermione. Then he penned a letter to Ted Tonks asking for help; Tonks was Harry's attorney through Gringotts. And despite Hermione's mild objections, Harry sent the letter to Ted via house elf delivery rather than using Hedwig. He then wrote two more letters, the first to Sirius Black with the details of the third task (and the fourth task) and revealed that the body of Peter Pettigrew had been left in the graveyard.
'Why haven't the Aurors announced this discovery?' he asked in the letter.
The second letter Harry wrote was a detailed account of the events he wanted remembered. He wrote about battling the creatures in the maze, and then included the long trip by portkey that lead to an unannounced fourth task in a graveyard. He wrote that the wall of stone saved him from Peter Pettigrew and the exploding potion. The Boy-Who-Lived was very unhappy that no one from Hogwarts, the tournament, or the Aurors came looking for him.
(The letter never mentioned meeting possessed Lucius Malfoy, Dark Lord Rat, Walden MacNair, or Severus Snape being in the graveyard – or what became of them.)
The first letter, Harry took to the tower where the owls lived and sent it off to Sirius somewhere London via his snowy owl. Hedwig was pleased to take the letter and he hoped she would be present tonight to attend the service for Hagrid. The second letter he kept in his pocket.
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Mr Tonks arrived at Hogwarts during lunch; Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick ignored the wizard who walked out of the Great Hall with Mr Potter for a long walk on the school grounds.
"The Daily Prophet article included quotes from me that I didn't make," Harry said. "The headmaster is making stuff up from out of the thin air and claims that I said the Dark Lord is back."
After Harry handed it over, Ted read the detailed description about the third task and the duel in the graveyard. He asked, "Are you sure that the wizard was Peter Pettigrew?"
"Yes, it was the second time I met him and he's unforgettable," Harry said. "He is…was a rat Animagus and he'd been a rat for so long his face and hands had begun to look like a rat's even when he changed back to being a wizard."
"I'll take this letter to Director Bones at the DMLE first. I won't give her the original just a copy. Then I'll go to the Daily Prophet and demand a retraction of everything Dumbledore claims you 'said' to him."
Harry frowned, "Everyone believes everything the headmaster says like it is written in gold ink."
Ted smirked and explained, "Albus Dumbledore was bitten by a giant spider and poisoned during the mess at the end of the Third Task. He lost his left arm and Saint Mungo's is keeping him confined to a bed for at least another week to ensure the poison has left his system. I can portray this as the ravings of a man whose mind is clouded by Acromantula poison – if that is what you want."
Sighing with relief, Harry nodded. "Yes, please Mr Tonks. Whatever Pettigrew intended with the giant potion; the Dark Lord is not back. That evil wizard is not walking around Britain today."
Studying the boy's face closely, Ted nodded but commented, "Never look Albus Dumbledore in the eye again. This summer, get Gringotts to provide you with books on defending your mind. Determine if your heir ring includes strong protections for your mind and begin the study of Occlumency too, in case the ring is ever taken from you."
Not looking Ted in the eye, Harry agreed to the man's admonitions, and they parted ways at the gates of the castle. Ted apparated back to London while Harry hurried inside.
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In the Gryffindor tower, Harry was forced to battle the four Weasley siblings when he caught them attempting to break into his trunk. The wall of stone appeared and threw the hexes and jinxes back at the students casting the spell.
On the floor and unable to walk, Fred complained, "Why is that wall still in place? The tournament is over!"
Dobby popped the Weasley siblings to the infirmary where Madam Pomphrey sighed as she once again dealt with familiar Weasley jinxes.
Ron demanded, "Gimme a pain potion! These duck lips hurt!"
Staring the red-headed menace in the eye, Madam Pomphrey explained, "I cannot give you a pain potion Mr Ron Weasley. The formula your brothers use for their hexes and jinxes make it necessary for the magic to be removed before you get pain relief. Otherwise, your bits will fall off!"
"What?" quacked Ron. "I'll beat Forge and Gred black and blue for this!"
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No one walked down to Hagrid's hut with Harry. Auror Proudfoot was assigned watch duty and he allowed Harry to light the pyre. The flames quickly spread, and with the level of heat the pyre produced, Proudfoot pulled the Boy-Who-Lived back to an appropriate distance from the fire. They spoke of memories they had of Hagrid at the school. Hedwig arrived shortly thereafter and sat on Harry's arm until Proudfoot conjured a temporary stand for her and showed Harry how to do so in the future.
Though both wizards noticed the centaurs, unicorns and other forest creatures standing in the shadows just outside the light of the flames, neither of them commented on the fact. They simply watched as the mortal remains of Rubeus Hagrid left the land of the living.
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